Whether you are completely new to marketing your business or you are a seasoned pro with several successful businesses under your belt – one thing is certain, the business landscape is changing and it is changing rapidly. This extreme level of change calls for logical measures to ensure your business stays on top of its marketing game.
So many businesses and clients of mine ask me “How do you know what you know about marketing?”, “Where do you come up with your marketing ideas?”, “How do you stay on top of your game?”, “How did you become a top performer in your field?”, “Where does one discover marketing prowess?”
These questions are always flattering to me. And although I have spent the last decade of my life working and training all kinds of businesses throughout the world in the art and science of marketing – I have always returned back to the same source to gain new perspective and to sharpen my marketing knife.
Where do top Advertising Agencies, Marketing Firms, and Branding Gurus attain leading edge knowledge?
The answer is very clear and comes quite easy to me and you may be surprised that you have been overlooking this free source right under your nose all of these years. Are you ready for me to unveil this knowledge source to let you in on where the top Advertising Agencies, Marketing Firms, and Branding Gurus are attaining their leading edge knowledge? Brace yourself, because I am about to reveal my source.
The source that should be in every Marketing Director, Business Owner, and Entrepreneur’s knowledge bank is the same source that leading experts contribute to and debate on every single day - the Scientific Journals. And believe me every industry has a journal whether it is Psychology, Biology, or even Marketing. Yes, there are more Marketing Journals than one can throw a book at and then there are marketing textbooks which publish what is essentially approved knowledge that has been rigorously scrutinized from the journals from top experts.
What if I can’t read the style of Language that scientific articles are written in?
I am not saying that you should go out and read every page in every journal from front to back cover. A normal person’s brain is not trained to understand the language that exists in these journals. The information is in code – it is intended only for Professors and Scientists to communicate with. That is why the abstract portion of the article was invented - to help the average person understand the complex knowledge contained in each study.
Most of what is contained in an article is designed specifically for Scientists to debate the validity of the study or how they went about collecting the data for the study. Your goal is to read the abstract which is usually only a few paragraphs long, located at the beginning of the article. Now adapt whatever insight or idea which is contained in the abstract to your own business.
Where do I start?
You start by running a search from your local library where these journals are stored in most cases for free in online databases. There may even be an entire collection of printed journals on hand at your local University library.
Now search for relevant topics that apply to your business. Marketing is a gigantic field and there are so many categories within the field that may or may not apply to your business. If you are an Internet business then most likely the Journal of Internet Marketing applies to you. If you run service style business then the Journal of Services Marketing applies to you. To hone in on specific information that applies to your business you will have to run an additional search within the first batch of search results.
For example Robert who is planning to build an online business may want to find out which colors are most effective in building websites - run a search for “colors and websites and effectiveness” in the Journal of Internet Marketing. A list of articles will come up where studies of actual color combinations were used to measure effectiveness in web experiences for users.
How Do I Apply This Information?
The answer is – “very straightforwardly”. You apply this kind of information where and when you can to give you business an upper hand over your competition. This information does not come cheap. These studies cost top dollar and many times are commissioned with tax dollars or by large corporations not to mention the time and effort that goes into executing these studies. The beauty here is that this information came at a price but is available for free for you to discover and utilize in your own business.
About Levon Guiragossian
With a comprehensive background as a Marketing Professional spanning the globe in research, design, marketing and branding strategy – Levon Guiragossian writes from direct experience.
Description
Want to know where the top Marketers in the world gain strategic insight? Leading Marketing Professional Levon Guiragossian unveils one of the industry’s best kept secrets in this in-depth article.
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